Second Saving
by Robyn Maddison
Summary: One shot Ginny's reflecting on events long past in a secluded hallway


AN: Just a one shot I thought of while writing my other D/G story. There's no more to this so don't ask for more. Enjoy it!  
  
Disclaimer: Do I look like I own these characters? HA! They're JK Rowling's, not mine.  
  
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Ginny sat and stared at the entrance to the second year girl's washroom. The stonewall was icy against her back, but she couldn't feel it. Her eyes were fuzzy and unfocused from staring so long, but she didn't blink.  
  
"Tom" she whispered. "Leave me alone."  
  
He was still there. Haunting her.  
  
He was there in class when the answer was one she really shouldn't know, and yet did. It was Tom. His brains, not hers. He was there at meal times, sneering at Harry. It was always Tom.  
  
He was there when Neville took her to the Yule ball, laughing at the boy from her head. He was there during the night, coming alive in her dreams and in her nightmares. He was there when she couldn't sleep, coaxing her reluctant footsteps towards the chamber, towards that place.  
  
Where it used to be at least. He didn't know it was gone. He was only a memory; he couldn't know that Dumbledore had the Chamber sealed, closed off.  
  
In some vague part of her mind, Ginny was perfectly aware that Tom wasn't really in her head. That he was only there because some other part of her wanted him there. Only because there was no one else who had ever wanted to be in her head, her life. No one else had wanted to get to know her.  
  
Not Ron, not Harry, not Hermione, not Neville, not her dorm mates, not her mother, not her father, not her brothers.  
  
"No one's going to save you from Tom this time Ginny," she said sadly to herself, a tear slipping down her face from a cold golden eye. "You'll have to save yourself."  
  
But she couldn't, she didn't know how. She needed someone else to like her and need her as Tom had. But no one did. She was quiet Ginny, strong Ginny, survivor of the Chamber Ginny. Never confused, lost, in need of saving or a friend Ginny.  
  
Harry saved her once, but would he save her again? He never finished the first time, would he come back to complete it?  
  
He didn't know his work was incomplete.  
  
Her head dropped onto bony knees, auburn curls tumbled over her shoulders. A knife slipped from numb fingers.  
  
A footstep rang out down the corridor, but she didn't hear it.  
  
The feet approached softly. It was last round of the night for the Prefect. The sounds of muffled sobbing came to the attuned ears and a malicious grin broke upon the face as he saw the huddled figure against the wall.  
  
The grin faltered as he took in the knife on the ground, and the red hair. This was the Weasley girl. He saw the barred door to the second year washroom.  
  
She was here.  
  
A voice in the back of his head whispered quietly, 'a criminal always returns to the scene of the crime, and the lover always returns to the bed'  
  
So which was this, a lover or a criminal? Either he supposed. His footstep made the sobs stop; a face peeked out from the curtain of red hair.  
  
Ginny took in the Prefect badge glinting on the breast of the student's robes. She couldn't see his face. "I'm sorry. I'll go to my dorm now." She stood to leave slowly, her hand surreptitiously hiding the knife in her robe sleeve, her head down. She made to walk past.  
  
A hand clamped down on her shoulder. "Why were you out here?"  
  
She recognized that voice. Oh no, anyone but him. Not him, not now, not here. Where was Harry? Or Ron? Or someone? Anyone.  
  
She paused and refused to meet the silver eyes she knew were watching her, "I was waiting." She said softly and waited for the scathing remark, the stinging retort.  
  
"For who?"  
  
"Someone to save me." She whispered to herself as she wrenched her shoulder out of his grip and hurried off down the hall.  
  
The prefect watched her go and, ignoring his mind yelling at him not to, jogged after her. Again he clamped down on her shoulder, She jumped and shrieked this time for she hadn't seen or heard him. Swiftly he put a strong hand over her mouth but didn't clasp it tightly "Don't yell, you'll get us in trouble."  
  
Her golden eyes didn't even flicker, they only looked downcast. He removed his hand and stood there.  
  
"Who were you waiting for?" He asked again. "Potter?"  
  
The red head shook her head. "No.just.someone."  
  
"Someone to save you."  
  
He had heard her. Her eyes flickered. "Yes." she breathed.  
  
He watched her. The oval face framed with red curls, the straight nose dusted with golden freckles, the golden eyes framed with dark lashes, the full mouth quivering in fear, the trails of tears down her smooth cheeks.  
  
He breathed deeply and inhaled her scent and her despair, so like his own. "I'll save you." He breathed. "If you'll save me."  
  
Ginny saw the lost look in the silver eyes. Not green eyes, or eyes framed by glasses, or the familiar blue of Ron's eyes, but the flinty grey eyes of the enemy.  
  
'Romeo will save Juliet to save himself.' Ran through her head.  
  
Her heart beat quickly. Was he joking? Playing her for the fool? You have to trust someone so they can save you. "Why?"  
  
"I will save you because you can save me."  
  
Ginny nodded and a strong thumb brushed away a stray tear.  
  
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AN2: Constructive criticism welcome, flames not appreciated and promptly deleted, senseless flattery enjoyed very much (it's good for the ego)  
~Robyn 


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